Friday, December 9, 2016

Racism, misogyny, religious
persecution, the act of committing hate crimes; these flawed mindsets and practices
that are embarrassingly still prevalent in modern society can be viewed through
the lens of a singular emotion, fear. The fear of the unknown, the fear of
change, the fear of being confronted with something that challenges one’s own
personal beliefs and ideals have historically caused seemingly rational people
to erupt in irrational violence. Not that being fearful is in any way an excuse
to carry out prejudicial violence of any kind, but it does however begin to
explain the violent actions that follow such a volatile frame of thought.

The actions of which can lead in either
two directions: that of a witch-hunt, in the figurative sense where an individual,
group, or an entire social class can be viewed as different or less than in
regards to the traditional societal standards. Deeming them the supposed cause
of any given social plight, allowing the denial of the rights and privileges
that are held by a civilized society. Or as the full blown literal act of the
accusations, convictions, and brutal executions of many people (primarily
women) in communities where they have perhaps lived for many years, experiencing
the ultimate betrayal in being accused by their neighbors, friends, and even
family members of practicing witchcraft in the attempt to cause harm to an
individual or to their community as a whole.

The
latter of which could be simply viewed as a past occurrence committed most
notably in the fifteenth through the nineteenth centuries of Europe and North
America, most notoriously in Salem, Massachusetts. However, strikingly these
actions are still being committed to this day, in rural regions of the world,
such as in Papa New Guinea where it is estimated that 150 tortures and executions
of accused witches continues to happen every year throughout the developing
island nation (Russell).

I intend to discuss the history of
the early witch-hunts in Europe and North America, the possible mindsets and
factors that are thought to have fueled the fire of persecution, and the
murderous events that followed. As well as how these events parallel with the
brutal attitude and activities that are continuing to threaten the safety of women
in Papa New Guinea to this day. How the mindset of a witch-hunt can also be
seen figuratively across present day North America, within the attitudes and actions
of people that lead to the persecution of people in regards to their race, and
religious practices; and how we as a nation can put and end to this backwards mindset.

We begin to look at the history of
witch-hunting by discussing an event that occurred in the late 1400’s, in
Southwest Germany: two Catholic priests by the names of Heinrich Kramer, and
his colleague Jakob Sprenger began their work on crafting their famous book,
the Malleus Maleficarum, translated as The Hammer of Witches (Demos, 62-63).
This infamous piece of skewed literature, contained a “bull” (official
statement) by the newly installed Pope, Innocent VIII, which in itself
attributed to being a license to carry out unlimited witch-hunting; this book was
the official guide to all witch related activities, and offered a comprehensive
model of responses for judges and inquisitors in dealing with such matters for
centuries to come (Demos, 63). The responses enacted by these political and
judicial officials were primarily against women who were living in low-income
and widowed.

According to Emily Oster, “Between
the thirteenth and nineteenth centuries, as many as one million individuals
were executed for the crime of witchcraft” (1). Oster continues to state that
the majority of the victims were women who were poor and widowed, and that the
trials and executions occurred primarily in the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries. In one town located in Germany, 400 people were executed for
witchcraft in a single day (1). These numbers are staggering, and just how does
this sort of femicide even begin to be explained? The answer may rest partly on
the changes of weather. The Malleus Maleficarum contains a chapter titled “How
They Raise and Stir up Hailstorms and Tempests, to Blast Both Man and Beasts”.
This leads into the viewpoint that witches are capable of controlling the
weather, a possibility of a direct concern for the people of the seventeenth
century, that were themselves in the midst of a little ice age due to drastic
climate change, effecting food production (Oster, 2). The people of this time
period with their limited understanding of the concept of climate change and
the causes of weather, could understandably fall into the belief that a
sinister force was causing the devastation to their daily lives, and with that
said, seek out to destroy the source of said sinister force. However, weather
wasn’t the only force of nature that the Europeans and early Americans believed
that the witch was capable of controlling. Kinetic energy could also be viewed
as a tool for a witch to manipulate for the purpose of causing harm or death.

This belief of the manipulation of
kinetic energy can be discussed in and example of an event that occurred in the
year 1654, in Windsor, Connecticut. A woman by the name of Lydia Gilbert was
accused of being a witch, and using witchcraft to curb the bullet fired from a
mishandled musket during a drill conducted by the local militia, to in fact
murder a man named Henry Stiles for the reason of not repaying the debt owed to
her family (Demos, 73-77). Lydia Gilbert was executed shortly after her
indictment. Lydia was hung by the neck in the midst of her neighbors happily
cheering at the destruction of evil. How Lydia must have felt during the entire
ordeal of accusations, throughout her trial, and especially during the few
short moments that remained of her life when she was able to look out onto the
cheering crowd of people that she knew, right before she dropped to an
agonizing death, no one could ever know. As for the crowd however, chances are
that it contained cheering women that at some point would be hanging from a
rope in the very same gallows where Lydia currently was. The emotions felt by
the crowd were possibly a combination of fear, confusion, and hate for
something not entirely understood. John Demos suggests that perhaps the reason lies
in the fact that these early Americans came from Europe in the time of the
great European witch craze, during the early seventeenth century (80-81). The
fact of being secluded in the wilderness on relatively unknown land, with the
existence of witches and witchcraft very much a part of daily life, leaves it no
surprise that witch-hunting became so quickly prevalent in the new land, and
would soon turn to also be viewed through the lens of racism and religious
persecution.

Demos suggests that the prejudice
in these accusations, in the form of racism and religious persecution began widely
against the new arrivals in their colonies beginning in 1616, the Africans
slaves. The newly integrating Africans carried their own religions that
incorporated the belief in magic, which for the white colonists posed a certain
threat. The colonists believed that their new slaves could make them sick, and
destroy crops with the practice of witchcraft. However, they still believed
that the most direct means of threat came from their own race (85-87). Witch-hunting
in early Europe and North America generally faded away towards the nineteenth
century. However, these same parallels can be seen occurring currently in
literal form in rural regions of the world, predominantly in the Highlands of
the island nation of Papa New Guinea.

Papa New Guinea occupies the
eastern part of the world’s second largest island and is prey to volcanic
activity, earthquakes and tidal waves (BBC.com). Papa New Guinea is also home
to a population where 80% of the people live in rural areas with few or no
facilities of modern life (BBC.com). Kent Russell, who spent time in this
region investigating the witch-hunts, spoke with a woman named Monica who was
accused of witchcraft, but luckily had escaped her accusers. She currently
assists other women accused of being witches, to escape the same fate that she
herself had nearly been dealt. Monica speaks of the fact that everyone in Papa
New Guinea believes in the existence of witches, from the Prime Minister, to
the chief of police, and that there was and actual sorcery conference the year
prior to discuss witch activity (Russell). This wide spread belief in the
existence of witches, in combination with the great negative activity
contributed by the weather and natural disasters, coupled with the fact that a
large majority of people live secluded in the wilderness; is not far off from
the way of life for the early settlers in North America previously discussed.
This makes it somewhat easier to understand that when the people of Papa New
Guinea experience something bad in one of their communities that cannot be
explained, in their minds it must be the sinister actions of a witch. It is
also believed that any death that isn’t due to old age is believed to have a
malevolent force behind it (Russell).

This is linked to a case in which a
young boy died from an illness, and instead of having the knowledge that the
illness was most likely caused by a virus, a young mother unrelated to the
child was accused of using witchcraft in the of murder him. Russell describes
the aftermath of that accusation:

A group of 50 or more of the dead
boy’s relatives apprehended the young mother, stripped her, tortured her and
burned her alive in the settlement’s landfill, just outside the city of Mount
Hagen. A number of bystanders were uniformed police officers who helped turn
back a fire engine when it whined to the scene (Russell).

This
statement also speaks of the corruption of local officials, such as the police
force in allowing and even participating first hand in such despicable acts.
This is all occurring in light of a new law that was passed in Papa New Guinea
in 2013, which makes the act of murdering accused witches illegal.

Another reason for an accusation
may stem from simple jealousy, Russell states that jealousy, pronounced
“jelasy”, is often a motivating factor in the Highland region for the accuser, knowing
that the supposed witch will be murdered or exiled from the community, leaving
her house and possessions up for grabs (Russell). This attribute of jealousy as
being the motivation for accusations also coincides with the motivations for
accusers in the early witch-hunts of North America: in the case Sarah Bridgman
accusing Mary Parsons of practicing witchcraft, possibly out of jealousy; John
Demos states that witchcraft was typically thought to involve envy (132-137).

Modern day North America however,
not engaging in the practice of literal witch-hunting, is however guilty of the
act in a figurative sense by the means of scapegoating individuals and or
certain groups there of. Scapegoating, “a person or group made to bear the
blame for others or suffer in their place” (dictionary.com). This act of
placing blame on an individual or group can be seen throughout American
history. Thomas Schoeneman states that scapegoating along with witch-hunts,
occur in times of social change and upheaval (531). Schoeneman classifies a
cultural change as a “revitalization”, stating it is a “deliberate, organized,
conscious effort by members of a society to construct a more satisfying
culture” (531). An example of this revitalization can been seen beginning in
the south during the 1960’s. The civil rights movement began from the desire of
a more satisfying culture for the African-American community, and the
elimination of the Jim Crow mentality that was so detrimental to our country
and the freedoms that we represent. Racial segregation made it so that
African-Americans were not seen as equals in our culture, and therefore didn’t
deserve to be treated as such. Aldon Morris states that “The Jim Crow system
went to great lengths to impress on the blacks that they were a subordinate
population” (518). During the civil rights movement many activists were thrown
in jail, physically and verbally assaulted, and at times murdered, not unlike
the accused witches of the early witch-hunts. These disgraceful acts were
motivated by the fear of cultural change in society, scapegoating the civil
rights activists as the cause for social upheaval and disorder, when in
actuality the reasons for social upheaval was the disorder of the laws that
kept a whole ethnic race down in society, and not treating them with the
respect as an equal citizen.

The act of scapegoating can be seen
in recent times as well, such as the fact that an entire class of people who practice
the religion of Islam are being viewed as the enemy. This has lead to acts of
violence against Muslim individuals in our own country, placing our fear and
anger against a foreign enemy on our own citizens. This fear has also led to
the proposed ban of any Muslims entering our country of supposed freedom. These
despicable acts against Muslim individuals happening currently in our society,
and against the black community of the Jim Crow era can be viewed as racism, it
can be viewed as the scapegoating of an entire class of people, and it can most
definitely be viewed as a figurative modern day witch-hunt where we as a
country are attempting to stamp out the supposed “evil” that so threatens our
way of life.

Fear is powerful. The unknown, the
inevitable change, the possibility of being confronted with something that
challenges one’s own personal beliefs and ideals is something that is
understandably scary. However, we as a nation can accept the challenge of the
unknown, we can accept the challenge of inevitable change, we can find value in
the challenge of being confronted by something that goes against our personal
beliefs and ideals; not living in fear the way that our ancestors did in early
America. We can say no to inept political officials who promote that backward way
of thinking. Most importantly, we can ultimately be the example to the rest of
the world that the equality in race, gender, and religion are, together, stronger
than fear. That modern day witch-hunts in the forms of racism, misogyny,
religious persecution, and the act of committing hate crimes, can no longer be
a way of life in any developing or developed nation.

Work Cited

Demos,
John. The Enemy Within: 2,000 Years of
Witch-Hunting in the Western World

Thursday, December 8, 2016

"I am a psychological and historical structure. Along with existence, I received a way of existing, or a style. All of my actions and thoughts are related to this structure, and even a philosopher's thought is merely a way of making explicit his hold upon the world, which is all he is. And yet, I am free, not in spite of or beneath these motivations, but rather by their means. For that meaningful life, that particular signification of nature and history that I am, does not restrict my access to the world; it is rather my communication with it." -- Maurice Merlau-Ponty, The Phenomenology of Perception: quoted by Sarah Bakewell in At the Existentialist Cafe, 229.

Belafonte, Harry and Noam Chomsky. "Noam Chomsky & Harry Belafonte in Conversation on Trump, Sanders, the KKK, Rebellious Hearts & More."Democracy Now (December 7, 2016) ["On Monday, over 2,000 people packed into Riverside Church in Manhattan to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Democracy Now! It was an historic occasion in part because it marked the first time Noam Chomsky and Harry Belafonte appeared on stage together in conversation. The two have been longtime champions of social justice. Chomsky is a world-renowned political dissident, linguist and author who gained fame in the 1960s for his critique of the Vietnam War and U.S. imperialism. He is institute professor emeritus at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he has taught for more than 50 years. Harry Belafonte is a longtime civil rights activist who was an immensely popular singer and actor. He was one of Martin Luther King’s closest confidants and helped organize the March on Washington in 1963."]

Williams, Jumaane. "Housing Advocate: It's Scary That Trump HUD Secretary Pick Ben Carson Thinks Poverty is a Choice."Democracy Now (December 7, 2016) ["Donald Trump has picked retired neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson to serve as secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD. Trump picked Carson even though the doctor has no experience in housing or urban policy. Last month, Carson told The Washington Post, "Having me as a federal bureaucrat would be like a fish out of water, quite frankly." For more, we speak with Jumaane Williams, New York city councilmember for District 45 and chair of the city’s Housing and Buildings Committee. He has spent much of his career fighting for affordable housing."]

"I know by own experience how, from a stranger met by chance, there may come an irresistible appeal which overturns the habitual perspective just as a gust of wind might tumble down the panels of a stage set - what had seemed near becomes infinitely remote and what had seemed distant seems to be close." - Gabriel Marcel, "On the Ontological Mystery" quoted by Sarah Bakewell in At the Existentialist Cafe: 132.
Denniss, Richard and Julie Nelson. "It's the Economists, Stupid."Ideas (November 28, 2016) ["Interest rates. Unemployment. GDP. Markets. Austerity measures. Economists tell us what we, as societies, can and can't afford. But how do they decide? What values are at play? IDEAS producer Mary O'Connell speaks with two economists about how modern mantras on the economy limit our choices and shut down civic debate."]
Edwards, David. "Fake News about 'Fake News': The Media Performance Pyramid."Media Lens (December 5, 2016)
Koski, Genevieve, et al. "Suicide Squad / The Dirty Dozen, Pt. 1."The Next Picture Show #39 (August 9, 2016) ["David Ayer has characterized his new entry in the DC Expanded Universe, SUICIDE SQUAD, as a modern take on Robert Aldrich's THE DIRTY DOZEN, a 1967 war/heist film that set the standard for movies about a band of criminals teaming up to take on a greater evil. In this half of the conversation, we put THE DIRTY DOZEN's violence and attitude toward war in historical context, and tangle with the film's difficult morality."]

Peabody, Fred. "All Governments Lie: Truth, Deception, and the Spirit of I.F. Stone."Film School (November 4, 2016) ["ALL GOVERNMENTS LIE: Truth, Deception, and the Spirit of I.F. Stone is a timely documentary for audiences who are increasingly seeking alternatives to news media owned by large corporations. News events and journalistic trailblazers stretching over many decades are linked together to tell this important story. This film will resonate with audiences in the US and worldwide, as news media ownership increasingly falls into the hands of a few giant corporations."]

Sunday, December 4, 2016

"'True philosophy needs communion to come into existence,' he wrote and added, 'Uncommunicativeness in a philosopher is virtually a criterion of the untruth of his thinking.'" -- The Philosopher Karl Jaspers quoted by Sarah Bakewell in At the Existentialist Cafe : 83.

Koski, Genevieve, et al. "Contact / Arrival. Pt. 1."The Next Picture Show (November 29, 2016) ["This week, we look to the skies to consider two films about the difficulty of communication between worlds, and the inward journeys involved in looking to the stars. Inspired by Denis Villeneuve’s new ARRIVAL, we begin with an in-depth discussion of an earlier film with which it shares many thematic and narrative elements: Robert Zemeckis' 1997 Carl Sagan adaptation CONTACT. We consider the film’s ambition, dissect its blockbuster qualities, and try to determine what makes this unwieldy, emotional movie work so well, almost despite itself. (Spoiler: It’s mostly Jodie Foster.)"]

---. "Contact / Arrival, Pt. 2."The Next Picture Show (December 1, 2016) ["Our conversation about movies about talking to aliens moves to the present with Denis Villeneuve’s new ARRIVAL, which hits many of the same narrative points as CONTACT, but points them in a different emotional direction. We talk about our reactions to the newer film, and how its ideas about science, communication, and emotion compare with CONTACT’s."]

Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Ayer, David and David Hart. "Fury and Justice."Pop Culture Case Study #161 (August 4, 2016) ["In
this episode, Dave discusses Justice in its many forms, both in normal society and in the military. More importantly, he is joined by Berook of the Cinema Bun Podcast to talk about David Ayer's opus, FURY ..."]

Gooley, Tristan. "The Lost Art of Natural Navigation."Radio West (November 23, 2016) ["Nowadays, there are all kinds of devices to help us find our way through the world. But before all that stuff, before even cartography, humankind was navigating with nature as the guide. The adventurer Tristan Gooley is committed to recovering and teaching the lost arts natural navigation. Rocks, trees, grass, ducks, puddles, clouds, and the wind are all compass hands to him. Gooley joins us Wednesday to share what he’s learned about natural navigation and the joys of learning nature’s subtle signs. Tristan Gooley is the author of several books about natural navigation, including The Lost Art of Reading Nature’s Signs and his newest, How to Read Water. He is the only living person to have piloted small aircraft and sailed single-handedly across the Atlantic, and he’s a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Navigation and the Royal Geographical Society."]

Alwan, Wes, et al. "Alexis de Tocqueville on Democracy in America."The Partially Examined Life #152 (November 21, 2016) ["Democracy is in peril! So said Tocqueville in 1835 and 1840 when Democracy is America was published, and so would he likely say now. Democracy is always just one demagogue away from stripping us of our liberties, though certain structural and cultural features can make that more or less likely. Tocqueville liked our spirit of volunteerism, our civic activeness, our energy and inventiveness and competitiveness, and the pervasiveness of religion (at the time) in American culture. But he didn't like our groupthink, our tendencies toward materialism and caring only about our own small circle (what he called "individualism"), our lack of philosophical curiosity, and was in favor of a strong separation between church and state. He thought that people in a democracy value equality over freedom, and that in the absence of a strong spiritual countervailing force, we'd spend more energy pursuing material comfort and so would be more likely to allow a tyrant who promises this to us to take control. He also feared the rise of a new aristocracy out of the business world, with bosses becoming the new de facto lords. Then again, he also feared a race war and thought for sure that if the South tried to secede, the federal government would be too weak to prevent this, so there's that."]

Koski, Genvieve, et al. "In the Mood for Love / Moonlight, Part 1."The Next Picture Show #51 (November 22, 2016) ["Inspired by one of the year’s biggest indie sensations, Barry Jenkins’ MOONLIGHT, we’re looking at another highly romanticized tale of unrequited love: Wong Kar-wai’s beautiful 2000 film IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE. In this half, we talk about how affecting LOVE’s central non-love-story is - and why - and consider how the film reflects Wong’s improvisational methods and his desire to create a dreamlike return to the Hong Kong of his childhood."]

---. "In the Mood for Love / Moonlight, Part 2."The Next Picture Show #52 (November 24, 2016) ["Our discussion of lyrical portraits of unrequited love turns its attention to Barry Jenkins’ MOONLIGHT, the look and feel of which—the final third in particular—recalls the bittersweet tone of Wong Kar-Wai’s IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE. We share our reactions to MOONLIGHT, and consider the two films’ shared qualities, including their use of unusual framing and the thematic importance placed on food."]

Perlstein, Rick, et al. "Ghosts."On the Media (November 25, 2016) ["A special hour on memory, both historical and personal, and how what we remember shapes our world."]

Schamus, James. "Indignation."The Treatment (August 3, 2016) ["As the former CEO of Focus Features, James Schamus has been instrumental behind the scenes launching films like Brokeback Mountain and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, often involving his long-time screenwriting partner Ang Lee. He has now tried his hand at directing in his debut Indignation, the adaptation of Philip Roth's book of the same name. Schamus visits The Treatment to discuss his first time working directly with the camera and actors as well as going to great lengths in properly reflecting the essence of the 1950's."]

About Me

Sprouted San Diego-CA. Interpellated through Midwest universities. Working the borderline South. Dialogic Cinephilia is the belief that in order to better understand/appreciate the world of cinema, one must learn about the world.
Trigger Warning: You may be introduced to concepts and ideas that may conflict with your worldview. Please remain calm, you are not required to adopt these ideas and/or integrate them into your lifestyle. All we are asking is that you consider how other people/cultures think/believe/live. Think, share and live fully - the world is a classroom http://internationalfilmstudies.blogspot.com/2016/09/the-stories-we-tell-ways-of-seeing.html